


Terra firma

by Aodhan



Category: Star Wars Legends: The Old Republic
Genre: F/M, General Garza is not my favourite person, Havoc Squad - Freeform, Marriage, Romantic Fluff, Swearing, Zabrak trooper
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2016-09-14
Updated: 2016-09-14
Packaged: 2018-08-15 01:31:41
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 974
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/8036974
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Aodhan/pseuds/Aodhan
Summary: After a mission goes pretty much sideways Aric is left pretty banged up and Shadil gets yelled at by the General, a lot. Still Havoc always sticks together and some day she will make her grumpy husband understand that he's stuck with her for good.
Set somewhere between the end of the class story and SoR, probably.





	Terra firma

**Author's Note:**

> This begann as a small 300 word drabble fot the prompt "a tired kiss" over on tumblr and somehow turned into this. Idek, to be honest, but despite disliking Aric in the beginning he somehow became one of my favourite swtor romances. Also thanks to Char for the beta/advice on this, you're the best :D

Aric’s eyes opened slowly when he heard someone enter his quarters. He took a moment to gather his wits, then tried to sit up at least a little straighter on the bed he’d been resting on.

 

“So, is Garza finally done shouting at you?” His voice was even raspier than usual, but he tried to smile through his exhaustion to make up for it.

 

“For now, at least,” Shadil answered, somehow managing to methodically take off her armor and roll her eyes in the same motion. “I’m fully expecting a whole list of passive aggressive remarks during our next briefing, though. We could probably make a drinking game out of it, have some fun for once.” The tall Zabrak rolled her shoulders a few times to ease the tension, seemingly content with the cracking sounds they made. Then she tentatively nudged the pile of armor on the floor with her foot, as if trying to make it look a little tidier, and finally crossed the room. Shadil smiled when she sat down on the edge of the bed.

“How are you feeling?”

 

“A bit like a grenade blew up in my face, to be honest.” Aric barked out a short laugh, cringed at the strain it put on his torso. “Don’t look at me like that. I can make bad jokes about explosives if I want to.” He reached for his wife’s hand and gave it a small squeeze. “Elara patched me up just fine, you know she’s the best medic there is.” It came out more sullen than he had meant to. When the stern look on Shadil’s face didn’t disappear he reached up to carefully cup her cheek with his hand. “I’ll be okay. Promise.”

 

Shadil sighed and leaned into the touch for a moment, then pressed a small kiss into his palm. “This time, Aric, but you almost weren’t. What were you even thinking?”, she asked accusingly. “You’re not usually that stupid. You literally almost fucking died in there. And shitty jokes about Garza aside, the whole extraction was a mess--”

 

“--but you would have gotten out alright,” he said, interrupting the start of the tirade she was warming up to. As his CO she really didn’t like things going sideways. And neither did he of course, but it wasn't like he had had a lot of time to think about consequences back then.

 

“Oh, please.” Aric watched as she stood up and walked a few steps from the bed to the door, then back again. He had the distinct impression that she would have torn at her hair if she had any. Instead Shadil took a deep breath, dragged her hands down her face and then focused on him again with a grim expression on her face. She climbed onto the bed and settled astride his lap, now quite literally looking down on him. And now that he looked closer, he could clearly see the exhaustion etched into her face and the worn expression in her amber eyes.

 

“Aric Jorgan, you must have suffered some serious brain damage if you think there was any chance _at all_ that Havoc would leave you behind on a fucking space station about to blow up.” She sighed again, as if to say ‘you stupid fucking nerfherder’ before she leaned down and pressed a warm kiss onto his lips.

 

“There could have been more casualties,” he mumbled against her lips, while his hands almost instinctively settled on her hips.

 

“Not a chance, Captain.”

 

“You have to be ration--” he was silenced by another kiss, this one accompanied by teeth teasing his lower lip.

 

“We would never leave you behind, you grumpy old man.”

 

“If it meant you’d be safe...”

 

“Aric.” Shadil straightened a little, so she could get a better look at him. “ _I_ would never leave you behind. No matter what happens, you should know that. And if you try to convince me of anything else, we really are going to have a problem here.” For a moment she turned her head to the side to stifle a yawn against her shoulder. “It won’t ever happen, not even if Coruscant is blowing up around us.” She kissed him again, before sliding off his lap and lying down beside him. “You’re not getting out of marriage that easily.”

 

“Oh, I am counting on that,” he agreed with another low laugh. Then he stretched to give her another kiss, this one lingering longer, even through the leaden bone-deep feeling of tiredness. When they broke apart he turned to his side, careful to not disturb his injuries, and draped Shadil’s arm around his middle. “And thanks for dragging my sorry ass out of there.”

 

“It’s what we do, right?” she mumbled and buried her face in the back of his neck, inhaling his scent for a moment. “...heroes of the Republic and all that.” Besides, they still hadn’t made that trip to Cathar he had promised her back  when he had proposed.

 

Shadil stayed like that, protectively curled around her husband, and watched over him as he fell asleep in a matter of minutes. She might have been joking earlier, but she was still processing just how close she had come to losing him today. They were used to the danger of course, that just came with being SpecOps, but to see him lie there so motionlessly and bleeding out had been like a punch to the gut. If M4 hadn't managed to give her a few seconds to get to him...

 

With a small sigh she finally closed her eyes, consciously trying to end that line of thought. Everyting was okay. Aric was alive. And the heat radiating from his body assured her that he would still be there when she woke up.

 

In the end it was simple; they’d always have each other’s back.


End file.
